Lincolnshire

Current status: Active

Welcome to the Lincolnshire Club Home Page 

  • A QUICK CHAT ABOUT OUR MEETINGS

We now meet at Kirton Leisure Centre, 31a Willington Road, Kirton, Boston PE21 1EP.  Our meetings start at 10.30 am.

Our 2024 calendar is 

Sunday January 7th
Saturday February 3rd
Saturday March 2nd
Saturday April 6th
Saturday May 4th
Saturday June 1st
Saturday July 6th
no August meeting
Saturday September 7th
Saturday October 5th
Saturday November 2n
Saturday December 7th


 


  • A LOOK INTO OUR ARCHIVES

The Lincolnshire Cigarette Card Club was formed in November 1994, and we have just discovered this wonderful clipping from Card Times which proves that our first venue was indeed the Poachers Inn, at Kirton Holme, near Boston in Lincolnshire.

lincolnshire first press report

These premises had been in business way longer than us, for parts of it date back to the 1800s. Times change though, and it is now The Poachers Country Hotel.

The club officials were Ted Aistrup (Chairman) and Mavis Dakin (Secretary), along with Peter Dakin. However the other members shown here are not named, so if any are you, do drop us a line so that we can add you in.

At that time our meetings were held on Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm, and would grow steadily to include several dealers, a raffle, and even an auction, which started at 2pm. We know this, along with our founding date, because in 1996, quite early in our career, we co-hosted the Cartophilic Society Annual Convention, along with the Humberside Branch - and all our information was printed on the back of the commemorative card that was issued at the event. 

1996 to be redone

That card shows a lovely image of the Cathedral on the front, but there is also a slight mistake as the address is given as “at the Lawns” and it should have read “The Lawn”. This used to be the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum, opened in 1820, and it was supposed to be one of the most humane, in fact within twenty years of its opening they boasted that no form of mechanical restraint was still in use. In 1905 it was renamed more gently into the Lincoln Lunatic Hospital, becoming The Lawn Hospital in 1921. It closed forever in 1985, when the Council bought it to use as a venue for events, including our convention. Then in August 2016 it removed the lovely glasshouse, and sold the rest of the premises for a new business headquarters, cafe, restaurant and theatre.

The back of the card, shown top right, had a reverse with two text boxes on, one being given over to each of the co-hosting clubs. And the same front image also appears on each of two standard sized cards, shown bottom right, each of which had the relevant text reset to fit. These were used by each of the clubs for advertising and attracting new members. By the way those smaller cards are much scarcer than the large one. 

It turns out that we were at the Poacher Inn for longer than thought, as the Card Times magazine for February 2000 lists a meeting for the 5th of that month.

However at some time (anyone remember when?) we moved to another venue, but just up the road. This was the “Ruddy Duck”, in Great Fen Road, which is now a restaurant and Freehouse. We were there for some time, and in fact we liked it so much we stayed on after the arrival of new proprietors in March 2008, who changed the name to “Merrimans Lounge and Restaurant”.

Some of our members were actually old enough to remember this building as “The Aero Club”, a name which originated from its proximity to what is now the home `drome of The Boston Aero Club, but which was already an airfield when Sir Alan Cobham based himself there in the 1930s. He appears on several cards, four of which can be viewed online courtesy of the New York Public Library / Cobham - and also look out for the album for ‘A Day on the Airway’, issued by Sarony, as it has a foreword by him; the cards are very attractive too, showing a flight from Croydon to Amsterdam.

In 2012, we again hosted a Cartophilic Society Convention. It was rather rainy, but a success nonetheless, with almost 150 members turning out. We also had a voucher system in conjunction with the local paper, where readers would cut out the coupon and hand it in to receive free admission; this was very successful. 

In April 2018 we co-hosted the Cartophilic Convention for the third time, this was at Lynnsport in Kings Lynn and our partners were the East Anglia Cigarette Card Club. We also agreed to provide free valuations to the general public and advice on any cards that their family had collected in the past, or found in attics etc. And here is the commemorative card for that event

2018 Convention Commemorative Card

Our meeting on October 6th 2018 was the first to take place at our brand new home, this being The Rugby Club, actually part of The Princess Royal Sports Arena in Boston, very close to the Ruddy Duck – in fact it was the next building on the left! Has any Cartophilic Branch re-located closer? However nothing else changed, all our meetings still started at 10 am, still regularly featured at least one visiting dealer, with a range of cards, binders and pages, and we also continued to host our very popular auctions.

Sadly this was not a long term move, and we have now moved again, this time to The Kirton Leisure Centre, 31A Willington Road, Kirton, Boston, PE20 1EP. Strangely, this is again not too far, and it is also closer to the Poachers Inn, at Kirton Holme, our original starting point!